We cannot just decide to be more loving or more joyful or more peaceful and suddenly we are! It does not work that way. We gain these attributes by growing in Christ, for the fruit of the Spirit is never dispensed apart from Him. The more I have of Christ, the more His fruit will flow through my life. Our responsibility is clear from Galatians 5:25: "Since we live by the Spirit, yet us keep in step with the Spirit." This is a military phraseology meaning that I must march in a straight line, taking my orders only from Him. After all, He is my King! And as I yield to the Spirit His fruit will ripen in my life.

In what has been described as the Christian virtues, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:5-7, "Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love." We should avoid thinking of these virtues as somehow our own individual possessions. Rather, as His called out people we are to embody before the entire world the kind of reconciled and transformed life that God desires for all of His creation. As you and I keep in step with the Spirit, we will bear fruit, the church will reflect this Christ-like life as it is intended, and other, will desire what we have.

The Apostle John stated in I John 2:9-11 that the one who loves his brother abides in the light. And he added in I John 4:8 that the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. The Apostle Peter taught us in I Peter 1 :22 that we are to "...love one another from the heart fervently...." He said in 1 Peter 4:8. "...above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves." This is in reference to the brotherhood. If you are not sure, then listen to what Peter said in I Peter 2:17: "Love the brotherhood. "We are to love one another, and it is not to be done secretly, for Jesus Christ said in John 13:35 , "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you., that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another." It was no accident that Jesus said this, and it is not mere happenstance that we who are followers of Christ are commanded and expected to love one another and to , grow in the Christian virtues, the fruit of the Spirit. Yes, we are to have faith and hope, too, but without love, and without our love being made manifest towards our brethren, we are nothing, and all of our works are in vain. As Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13:13, "But now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love." The fruit of the Spirit should be the result of living the normal Christian life. These character qualities are not meant to be the exception for believers, but rather, the norm! It should not be extraordinary or unusual when Christ's followers live in peace and harmony with each other or treat others with kindness. Eric